An enormous Swedish group research has discovered that induction of labor does not aggravate the threat of the new-born suffering from autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Anna Sara Oberg, PhD, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and her colleagues. The research was based on a fixed-effects model that assessed the exposure-discordant siblings, which implies a comparison between siblings who were given birth through induced labor and the one who were given birth without it.

She added that apprehensions over the increased risk of autism should not be the decisive factor when choosing whether to induce labor or not. Oberg revealed that the ACOG committee suggests that the existing policies on the induction of labor should not be modified, and the research backs the suggestion since no fundamental linkage has been found between induced labor and the risk of autism.

While, induction of labor was not found to be associated with ASD risk aggravation when examining exposure-discordant siblings, but, an assessment of the baseline population revealed that the ASD risk increased by 32%. This relation was noteworthy, despite making adjustments for both maternal characteristics and birth-specific characteristics.

The authors suggest that shared factors get accounted for when a comparison is done between siblings. "Since a potential difference between siblings cannot be due to any of the things they have in common, the comparison controls for many of the factors that could lead to both induction and ASD (e.g., shared maternal, socioeconomic or genetic factors)," said Oberg.

The holistic research suggested that 3.5% of those born via induced labor were detected with ASD by the age of 20 years, in comparison to 2.5% of those born without it. The association between induced labor and ASD is primarily speculated due to the use of oxytocin, which is a neurotransmitter that entails social behavior and cognition, along with being associated with downregulation of neuroreceptors.